Upcoming events: Museum open for GBBC

Come on by to learn about and celebrate the Great Backyard Bird Count!

Observe and record birds in our “backyard” and learn more about the Great Backyard Bird Count. We’ll share our experience in this long-running citizen science project, help you identify birds, pick the right feeders for your home, and more. The Museum exhibits and trails will be open; warm drinks and snacks for sale as well.

Saturday, February 15, 10am – 3pm
Don’t need to register; we are open.
Regular admission (free for Museum members always and for Green Mountain Audubon members today)

Through the Window: October 2013 with Big Sitters Helping

Nice weather this month. Our list is a bit longer and more amazing ’cause we had some dedicated sitting observers. Admittedly, they were actually on the other side of the window from our usual watching spot. Should we count that as “through the window”? Hmmm. Anyway, if you don’t know about the Big Sit!, go check it out, then come back (We’ll wait).

OK, here’s the combined list: Continue reading “Through the Window: October 2013 with Big Sitters Helping”

October Events! Owls and arts, carvings and crafting, and a Festival!

October is for owls and arts, sales and stories, crafts and carvings

  

Please come to our Snowy Owl program and our awesome Fall Festival. That too exciting? Take a Big Sit break, and watch birds for an hour or 12. Relax while admiring art by 3rd and 5th graders on exhibit all month long. There’s also a Bluebird Brooch Felting Class and a Gift Shop Sale.

Continue reading “October Events! Owls and arts, carvings and crafting, and a Festival!”

A Call to Vermont Bird Artists!

Do you do birds? The Birds of Vermont Museum and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies are collaborating on an exhibit for this year at the Birds of Vermont Museum. We are celebrating the VCE’s updated Breeding Birds of Vermont atlas and its release as a printed book (see more at http://www.vtecostudies.org/vbba/). This atlas is a gigantic citizen-science project and the result of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of birding observations and data analysis.

We seek art to complement the data-rich maps and species descriptions. The exhibit will run from May 1 through October 31.

The birds we’re looking for are these:

  • American Kestrel
  • Bank Swallow
  • Blackpoll Warbler  
  • Merlin
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker  
  • Tufted Titmouse  
  • Whip-poor-will  

The art we seek is ready to hang, and is at least 10” x 10” (up to say, 3’x3’). We’re happy to consider sculptures (especially if it fits on a small wall-mounted mantle-style shelf or can be hung on a wall). We are hoping for a diversity of media, and we’re happy to carry some prints and cards of yours in our gift shop as well for the season. The original work can be for sale or not, at your discretion.

Are you interested? Do you have something you’d like to exhibit with us? Do you want to check out our exhibit space? Call or email us, tell us about it, and send us an image (.jpg preferred) by Friday, April 5. We’ll be choosing up to 15 works of art for this exhibit. We’ll need to hang the artwork by the first weekend in May. You can reach us (Erin, Kirsten, and Allison) at (802) 434-2167 and museum@birdsofvermont.org.

We look forward to seeing your work!

upcoming event: Monthly Bird Monitoring Walk

Saturday October 27 • 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Join experienced birders on the last Saturday of every month for the monthly bird monitoring walk. Discover more of the Museum’s forest and meadows! Please bring binoculars.

Free • Adults and older children have the most fun

Optional: pre-register by emailing museum@birdsofvermont.org or calling (802) 434-2167.

Highlights of July 8th Butterfly Walk

We could not have asked for better weather during the July 8th ButterflyWalk. Clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures welcomed the eighteen nature lovers that joined Vermont Entomological Society naturalists and entomologists for an exploratory stroll on the Birds of Vermont Museum grounds.  Make sure to check out the list of the many butterflies, insects, and other miscellaneous critters participants got to experience up close!

To learn more about the Vermont Entomological Society check out their website, where you can find gorgeous photos and information about the society.

Atlantis Fritillary similar to the one above were sighted during the July 8th Butterfly Walk.

Butterflies, Insects, and Misc. Critters viewed on July 8th:

Butterflies:

  • Atlantis Fritillary Butterfly
  • Clouded Sulphurs Butterfly (male)
  • Dun Skipper Butterfly
  • Monarch Butterfly
  • Question Mark Butterfly
  • Azure Butterfly
  • Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly
  • Red Admiral Butterfly

Moths:

  • Sod Grass Veneer Moth
  • Mottled Snout Moth
  • Gypsy Moth (caterpillar)
  • Plume Moth
Misc. Flying Species:
  • Enallagma Skimming Bluet (blue damselfly)
  • Bright Green Damselfly
  • 12-Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly
  • Red Dragon Fly
  • Dragon Fly (exoskeleton)
  • Crane Fly
  • Scorpion Fly (female)
  • Serpent Fly (mimics wasp)

Beetles:

  • Click Beetle
  • Japanese Beetle
  • Whirligig Beetle
  • Case-bearing Leaf Beetle

Other Species:

  • Bush Katydid
  • Grey Grasshopper (gripped and turned a dime – VERY IMPRESSIVE!)
  • Large Tan Spider(male)
  • Crab Spider (3 sighted, 1 was eating another insect)
  • Water Boatman
  • Water Scorpion
  • Frogs & Tadpoles
  • Leeches
  • Salamanders
  • Raven (heard)
  • Black Billed Cuckoo (heard and sighted)
Interested in identifying butterflies in your own backyard? Check out “Gardens With Wings” for help identifying butterflies by their shape, wingspan, opened and closed wing color, common name and family name.

Highlights of July 8th Butterfly Walk

We could not have asked for better weather during the July 8th ButterflyWalk. Clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures welcomed the eighteen nature lovers that joined Vermont Entomological Society naturalists and entomologists for an exploratory stroll on the Birds of Vermont Museum grounds.  Make sure to check out the list of the many butterflies, insects, and other miscellaneous critters participants got to experience up close!

To learn more about the Vermont Entomological Society check out their website, where you can find gorgeous photos and information about the society.

Atlantis Fritillary similar to the one above were sighted during the July 8th Butterfly Walk.

Butterflies, Insects, and Misc. Critters viewed on July 8th:

Butterflies:

  • Atlantis Fritillary Butterfly
  • Clouded Sulphurs Butterfly (male)
  • Dun Skipper Butterfly
  • Monarch Butterfly
  • Question Mark Butterfly
  • Azure Butterfly
  • Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly
  • Red Admiral Butterfly

Moths:

  • Sod Grass Veneer Moth
  • Mottled Snout Moth
  • Gypsy Moth (caterpillar)
  • Plume Moth
Misc. Flying Species:
  • Enallagma Skimming Bluet (blue damselfly)
  • Bright Green Damselfly
  • 12-Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly
  • Red Dragon Fly
  • Dragon Fly (exoskeleton)
  • Crane Fly
  • Scorpion Fly (female)
  • Serpent Fly (mimics wasp)

Beetles:

  • Click Beetle
  • Japanese Beetle
  • Whirligig Beetle
  • Case-bearing Leaf Beetle

Other Species:

  • Bush Katydid
  • Grey Grasshopper (gripped and turned a dime – VERY IMPRESSIVE!)
  • Large Tan Spider(male)
  • Crab Spider (3 sited, 1 was eating another insect)
  • Water Boatman
  • Water Scorpion
  • Frogs & Tadpoles
  • Leeches
  • Salamanders
  • Raven (heard)
  • Black Billed Cuckoo (heard and sighted)
Interested in identifying butterflies in your own backyard? Check out “Gardens With Wings” for help identifying butterflies by their shape, wingspan, opened and closed wing color, common name and family name.

Through the Window: June 2012 Goshawks, Sapsuckers, and Skunks Oh My!

Did you know we just list them in the order we see them? Usually the first several are from the first day of the month. We put the ones not seen last month in bold.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male). Carved by Bob Spear in 1985.
  • American Crow (6/4/12 fly – over, 6/22/12 juveniles under feeder)
  • Blue Jay
  • Black-capped Chickadee
  • Evening Grosbeak
  • Wild Turkey
  • American Robin
  • Mourning Dove
  • Common Grackle
  • Rose-breasted Grosbeak
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
  • Red-winged Blackbird
  • Purple Finch
  • Tufted Titmouse
  • Downy Woodpecker (6/27/12 downy with young feeding)
  • Hairy Woodpecker
  • Baltimore Oriole (6/22/12)
  • Ruby-throated Hummingbird (5/5/12 FOY male)
  • Northern Cardinal (male & female)
  • Goshawk (6/13/12 chasing 3 crows, 6/21/12 perched in the tree above picnic table)
  • Sapsucker (6/21/12 & 6/22/12 nestlings calling for food, nest hole visible from picnic tables)
  • Black Bear (6/14/12 @ 12:30 pm stayed about 3 minutes until the sound of the door scared it off)
  • Skunk (6/29/12)
  • Gray Squirrels
  • Red Squirrels
  • Chipmunks

*FOY stands for First Of Year.

Skunk visiting bird feeders on June 29, 2012
Skunk visiting bird feeders on June 29, 2012

You can always compare this list to other months, or check out sightings in the area on eBird.

Highlights of the June 3rd Early Morning Bird Walk

a guest post by Mae M

After yesterday’s rain it was perfect weather this morning for a leisurely walk along the forest trails behind the museum.  Five birders enjoyed great looks at Ovenbirds, a Hermit thrush, a Blackburnian warbler, a Yellow-rumped warbler and two Yellow-bellied sapsuckers. The Northern flicker nesting near the museum also made several appearances for our delight.

After the walk we enjoyed coffee and cake seated in front of the viewing window while Rose-breasted grosbeaks and Ruby-throated hummingbirds came in to the feeders. What could be better than that?!

Our next Early Morning Bird Walk will take place on Sunday, June 10 at 7:00-8:30. Won’t you join us? Continue reading “Highlights of the June 3rd Early Morning Bird Walk”